Categories of Drugs

Stimulants, Depressants, Hallucinogens

What is Marijuana • Marijuana is a grey or green mixture

of dried flowers and leaves from the Cannabis sativa, or hemp plant.

• Marijuana is actually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint or a nail) or in a pipe or a bong. Recently it has appears in cigars, called blunts.

• But marijuana can also be mixed into food (like brownies, cookies, and lollipops), brewed as a tea, or inhaled with a vaporizer. With edible marijuana, there is portion size to take into consideration.

• People might be used to eating a few cookies, but the recommended dose of a pot cookie might only be a tiny piece of a single cookie.

Marijuana Physical Effects

Depressant:

*With most doses it is a depressant but with different doses it can also be a stimulant or a halluncinogen.

*Slows normal functioning of the cerebellum, loss of balance

*blood shot eyes

*can’t concentrate

*Decreases short term memory

Additional Effects *Lung Cancer

*Emphysema

Marijuana smokers tend to inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than cigarette smokers, which leads to a greater exposure per breath to tar.8

Marijuana : How it Affects the Brain

Anandamide: • 1992 – NIDA announced the

discovery of ANANDAMIDE (Sanskrit word for “bliss”), the natural neurotransmitter that first into the receptor sites.

• Like other psychoactive drugs, THC activates neurons because its chemical structure mimics the natural neurotransmitters – can directly and indirectly target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine.

THC

Effects Doses

• *Strong dose - stimulation,

giddiness, Colours and sounds may seem more intense

*Very strong dose- feelings of

movement, visual

hallucinations

*Mental effects dependent on

set, setting, and experience

*Can exaggerate mood,

personality

Long Term Use

• "Amotivational syndrome”

The person just does not care

about anything. Not motivated.

Tolerance- tolerance develops

quicklyto anandamide. The user can’t resist marijuana • MYTH: Marijuana relieves

stress. • FACT: Marijuana, like all

drugs, merely postpones coping with problems and deadlines; marijuana can lead to depression.

Choices and Outcomes Why People Use

*decreased nausea and Increased appetite: chemotherapy patients

*Anticonvulsant- reduces seizures but not a lot of research to support this with the other side effects

• Family Influence

• Psychiatric Disorders

• Bad Friends

• Problems in Social Life

• Feel Older(stops brain development so don’t ever really mature)

Dependence/Withdrawal

• can take 10 weeks for the

person to be "clean.“

• Actually there is no specific treatment of marijuana users as many of them are also addicted to stronger drugs as cocaine and heroin and there is no medicine which reduces the need of marijuana.

• Users enter specific centers and are kept for about 3 months without having marijuana.

Inhalants TERMINOLOGY

Sniffing - Inhaling vapors from an open container or off a heated pan

Huffing - Inhaling vapors from a volatile-soaked cloth held against the face

Bagging – Application of the volatile into a paper or plastic bag, which is then held over the face

Inhalants: Effects

• Chemicals become absorbed into fatty tissues in the brain and the nervous system – Typically affecting the myelin

surrounding the bodies nerve cells

– with long term use myelin is broken down and ultimately nerve cells can not transmit messages to one another.

– Results in temporary loss of motor control and a "dissociative" psychological effect, where sensations and perceptions become disconnected.

Effects of Inhalants Behavioral Effects

Users may experience: • Euphoria • Light-headedness • Sleepiness • Distorted Space Perception • Nausea • Spinning • Drunkenness • Altered shapes and colors • Dizziness • Numbness • Slowed breathing • Slowed heart rate • Disorientation • Loss of body control

Outcomes -A. Brain- causes sensory and psychological disorders. Since myelin sheaths are affected cell death is predominant. • B. Cerebral Cortex- Cell death

causes permanent personality changes, memory impairment, hallucinations and learning disabilities

• C. Cerebellum- damage results in a loss of coordination and slurred speech. Chronic users experience tremors and uncontrollable shaking

Death – Suffocation

• Choking on one’s vomit while unconscious

– Asphyxiation • Decrease in oxygen and increase in

carbon dioxide

Club Drugs Common Club Drugs: • Club drugs are the drugs

being used by young adults at dance parties, raves, clubs, and bars!!!

• ECSTASY

• GHB

• ROHYPNOL

• METHAMPHETAMINE

Effects of Ecstasy

• ECSTASY IS USUALLY TAKEN ORALLY AS A TABLET

• INCREASE HEART RATE

• INCREASE BLOOD PRESSURE

• ELEVATION OF BODY TEMPERATURE

• Decreases Serotonin production

GHB Forms

• GHB can be produced in clear liquid, white powder, tablet, and capsule forms, and it is often used in combination with alcohol, making it even more dangerous

• SEDATIVE

• EUPHORIANT

Hallucinogens: Distorting the senses and clouding the mind PCP

*PCP prompts violence, can induce psychosis, and cause death by respiratory arrest.

*Originally developed as a synthetic drug 1959, Phencyclidine (PCP, or angel dust) is a dissociative anesthetic. In its pure form, PCP is a white, crystalline powder.

*A street drug since the 1960’s, it is now produced in clandestine labs and sometimes passed off as mescaline or as another hallucinogen with less extreme effects.

*In large quantities it smells like strong ammonia. While use of PCP died down after the 70's PCP is making a resurgence in parts of the Northeast parts of the country despite its now know dangers.

*It is marketed under so many different names (wet, bobbies, dippies, dank, amp, hydro, purple haze, haze, and lillie just to name a few) that users aren't always aware

How is it made? *Usually smoked, PCP can also be taken orally, snorted, or injected. It is sold in capsules, tablets, powder, and liquid. Most often the crystalline powder is sprinkled on a leafy substance—tobacco, parsley, mint, oregano, or marijuana—and then smoked in rolled cigarettes.

PCP • The effects of PCP can be unpredictable and are often severe. Moderate

doses (5 milligrams or less), generally produce initial feelings of relaxation and mild euphoria, but depression, anxiety, or disorientation can also result. Within the normal dosage range, users feel powerful, "spaced out," or detached and may experience LSD-like visual distortions.

• Physical effects LSD Blotter Paper LSD Pills PCP include: rising heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature; flushing and sweating; shallow breathing; numbness; and some loss of coordination.

• At higher doses, respiration drops and users may experience nausea, vomiting, loss of balance, and dizziness. They often display dramatic mood swings and are prone to anxiety, paranoia, and aggressiveness. Violence is not uncommon.

• Paranoid delusions and aggressive behavior are sometimes followed by PCP-induced psychosis that may mimic symptoms of schizophrenia.

• Psychotic episodes can last several days, and it may take as long as two weeks for patients to return to normal. At toxic levels, or when interacting with alcohol or other depressant drugs, PCP can prove fatal, causing convulsions, coma, and respiratory arrest. PCP can also exacerbate pre-existing mental disorders

LSD

• LSD may trigger anxiety, panic, depression, paranoia, and psychotic episodes.